By jfbarszcz
As you may be aware, dear reader, soccer (sorry, football) is much more popular in Europe than in the United States. In the Czech Republic in particular, football is probably about tied with ice hockey as the most popular sport. So it goes without saying that I wanted to attend a football game (sorry, match) during my stay in Europe. Thankfully, that's pretty easy to do here. I think that in this regard I've actually been pretty spoiled. AC Sparta Praha is historically the best team in the Czech Republic and one of the best in Central Europe. But unlike, say, Real Madrid or Manchester United, you don't have to pay hundreds of euros for a single ticket. The price of admission to a Sparta match is 240Kč, or about 12 US dollars. Not only that, the stadium is three tram stops from my dorm, so it was very easy for me to attend a match on a whim after class one Monday evening. And NOT ONLY THAT, but my 240Kč ticket? It bought me this view. Pitchside, midfield, hell yeah. Do you know how much that would cost you in Barcelona? I don't even know, and quite frankly don't want to.
Having just come from class and it being past 7 PM, I was quite hungry. Needless to say I was very pleasantly surprised that the Czechs haven't figured out that dirty American trick of gouging you on stadium concessions. A large and quite filling sausage cost me 50Kč ($2.50) and beers, fresh and delicious as always, were 35Kč a pop (I'm going to let you do the math from here on out, it isn't hard). Cheap and plentiful beer is really a great thing to have at a sporting event, as it, ahem, increases the camaraderie among the fans (luckily, the Czechs are pretty good at drinking without getting totally smashed).
As for the match itself, Sparta played Sigma Olomouc (pronounced "Oh-loh-mowts"), from the city of Olomouc (duh) in the eastern Czech Republic (the region also known as Moravia). It was a good match with lots of exciting moments. Unfortunately, Sparta lost 2-1, their only goal coming from a penalty kick. Even so, it was some very good football, I definitely enjoyed myself, and at those ticket and food/drink prices, I'd gladly go again. But first I think I'm going to have to get myself to a hockey game...